History – St. Agnes

St. Agnes History

The Beginning of Saint Agnes School

In 1876 Father Charles F. Kelly was appointed pastor of SS. Peter and Paul’s parish in Towanda. He arrived to find a church building that existed as only the outside shell; the interior of the building had never been completed. The Church was built during the years 1867-1869 and due to many disagreements with Father Patrick Toner who was pastor of the parish during those years the money was never raised to complete the building. Father Kelly’s first project became the completion of the church.

Father Kelly had a very large parish. The coal mines at Barclay were in full force and hundreds of Roman Catholics lived there. Father Kelly set to work to unify the parish; part of this unison would come from the establishment of a parochial school in his new parish. He knew the children deserved the education that teaching sisters could provide. He set to work securing property and requesting that religious sisters come to Towanda to start a school. The C. L. Ward property on Third Street was purchased. This was a very beautiful estate located high on a hill in Towanda; the house would serve as a convent while the stables could be converted for classrooms. The property purchased in July of 1877 was what Father Kelly needed to attract an order of teaching sisters to his parish.

On September 6, 1877, five Sisters of Mercy arrived in Towanda to begin the process of setting up a convent and school. The group of sisters was headed up by Sister Mary Clement Confer. Sister Mary Clement was born in Hollidaysburg, PA, and entered the Sisters of Mercy on December 29, 1857, in Pittsburgh, PA. Sister Mary Clement is credited as being the foundress of Saint Agnes Convent and School. The sisters made the necessary preparations to open the school and academy and did so on October 22, 1877. This was the beginning of Saint Agnes School. Sister Mary Clement stayed on in Towanda until 1883 when she went to Plymouth, PA to open a Catholic school there. Hundreds of Sisters have been stationed in Towanda over the years to teach thousands of children in the school during their time in the parish, which ended in 1992.

Father Charles F. Kelly D.D.S.J.

Pastor of SS. Peter and Paul

1876-1899

Sister Mary Clement Confer

Foundress of Saint Agnes Convent and School

St. Agnes School as it appeared in 1898

The following is an account from a local newspaper that told about the new school:

The building was of red pressed brick and Hummelstown granite, 119 feet long and 67 feet wide, with two stories and a basement. The basement contained a kitchen, banquet hall, two large play rooms and a boiler room. On the first floor were five school rooms. Also, on this floor were the teachers’ and ladies’ rooms. The teachers’ room was finished in a seal color and had wainscoting four feet high divided by a screen partition.

The second floor was was a large entertainment hall with a seating capacity for 900, a complete stage, drop curtains, wings, etc. The proscenium arch of the stage was of white pine lumber, covered with relief work. The auditorium had flexible sliding rollback doors.

The building was lighted by electricity. In all halls, school rooms, entertainment hall, society and ante rooms, banquet room and real entrance, the wainscoting was of Southern pine, with moulded cap, while in the front entrance the wainscoting was paneled. The ceiling was of paneled iron. The vestibules and staircases, exposed to view, were of paneled steel.

Ventilation came direct from studded partitions extending from the basement through to the attic to the ventilating tower floor. The building was heated by steam radiators of neat design in each room. The building cost $25,000.

Plans for a New School

Monsignor Joseph A. Griffin became pastor of SS. Peter and Paul’s parish on September 16, 1953. It was during his pastorate that the decision was made to build a new Saint Agnes School. The condition of the 1898 building required continuous renovations and the State Fire Inspectors, aroused by a disastrous fire in a Chicago School, condemned the building. The entire second floor had to be sealed off and was not available for any use. A fundraising campaign was started in January of 1961, to raise $125,000 at the minimum. The goal was met and ground was broken on May 16, 1962. The classroom section of the building was completed first. His Excellency, The Most Reverend Jerome D. Hannon, D.D. Bishop of Scranton blessed the classrooms on February 23, 1963. The new school opened for class on Monday February 25, 1963. The old school building was torn down and the rest of the school building and parish center were completed. The cornerstone for the entire project was laid on December 8, 1963. A well attended banquet and celebration followed the ceremony. The new Saint Agnes School was completed at a cost of $492,000. The new school, a single story structure of contemporary architecture, has nine classrooms, a lobby, library, science rooms equipped with the latest designed student equipment stations, demonstration tables and storage, administrative offices, a completely equipped kitchen and storage area, a student store, gymnasium with bleacher seating for 710 spectators, storage and locker rooms, a stage with dressing rooms. The elementary and secondary wings are separated by the library. The large marble statue of Saint Agnes erected in front of the old school by Father Kelly in 1898 has been moved to the side of the stairs leading to the school from Third Street.